Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, Explained

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If you’ve been paying attention to the news or social media lately, you may have seen headlines or hashtags like #MyanmarGenocide, which detail horrifying stories about Rohingya Muslims and the genocide currently happening in the country of Myanmar.

The Muslims of Rohingya descent have been described by the United Nations as one of the “world’s most persecuted minorities.” The UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, recently said that Rohingya Muslims are facing "the most urgent refugee emergency in the world" at this very moment.

The violence in Myanmar is nothing new. The country has been rooted in conflict throughout its inception, having historically faced occupation by Britain, Japan, and an oppressive military rule over time. But the genocide against Rohingya Muslims in the Rakhine region of the country was reported as being in its “final stages” by the International State Crime Initiative (ISCI) at the Queen Mary University of London almost two years ago, in October 2015. Now, two years later, the UN’s human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al-Hussein is calling the genocide against the Rohingya a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing.”

So where exactly is Myanmar, who are the Rohingya, and what’s happening to them? We're here to explain.

Where and what is Myanmar?

Myanmar is a sovereign state in Southeast Asia. Its formal name is the “Republic of the Union of Myanmar,” but was formerly known as Burma. Neighboring countries include Bangladesh, China, Laos, and Thailand.

The official religion of Myanmar is Buddhism, and Myanmar is considered a Buddhist state. However, Myanmar is also home to a small population of approximately two million Muslims, per the 2014 census. The majority of Muslims there – about a million — reside in Myanmar’s Rakhine State. They are known as Rohingya Muslims, or the Rohingya.

The Rohingya consider themselves to be an ethnically indigenous people of the Rakhine State in Western Myanmar, whose majority are Muslims. Yet the government of Myanmar Burmese government and Buddhist nationalists view them as descendants of people who arrived during the British colonial administration.

Rakhine State’s population is about three million; the majority are Buddhists. There is also a small Hindu minority – including among the Rohingya — some of whom have become refugees in India, where they hope to gain citizenship.

Myanmar’s 1982 nationality law required the Rohingya to prove that their ancestors settled in Burma prior to 1823, which they were allegedly unable to do. Since then, they’ve faced exponentially increasing religious, political, economic, and social oppression and persecution.

Myanmar’s state-sanctioned persecution of the Rohingya has been both progressive and multi-systemic. In 1991, Myanmar — then still a military dictatorship — launched an operation against the Rohingya that included religious suppression, forced labor, and rape.

Various human rights groups have accused the government in Myanmar of severe human rights violations, including “restrictions on the freedom of movement, marriage, childbirth, and other aspects of daily life in northern Rakhine State.”

The discriminatory government regulations require Rohingya couples to get permission to marry, to travel beyond their hometown, or move to a new one. Rohingya living in two of Rakhine’s towns, Maungdaw and Buthidaung, are only allowed to have two children. According to Minority Rights Group International, even access to medical care is restricted. Violations of these restrictions may be punished with up to several years in prison, fines, or in some cases, both.

As is typical in conflict, gender-based violence is also a concern, with girls, women, and children being vulnerable to exploitation, sexual violence, and human trafficking.

Since late August, Myanmar’s military, has launched brutal extra-judicial and indiscriminate attacks against those perceived to be Rohingya — including unarmed people – with impunity.

Amnesty International reports large-scale “scorched earth” tactics carried out by both the military and vigilante mobs, where villages are burned and survivors trying to escape are shot. According to Human Rights Watch, more than 200 villages have been burned en masse to almost totality.

Multiple survivors have graphically detailed similar atrocities, including children allegedly being beheaded. Mobs have reportedly begun to target non-Rohingya Muslims with violence.

Bangladesh’s prime minister Sheikh Hasina reports that her country is sheltering 800,000 Rohingya; over half have arrived in the past few weeks. The UN, however, reports that hundreds trying to enter Bangladesh have been either denied entry or detained and forcibly deported back to Myanmar.

Meanwhile, those who make it to Bangladesh still face many challenges. Conditions in the refugee camps are bleak, with refugees fleeing violence only to face overcrowding, malnutrition, disease, hunger, human trafficking, and other threats. The Red Cross [has said] there are “no words” to describe the inhumane conditions and calls the camps “catastrophic.”

Al Jazeera reports that children make up an astounding 60% of the over 420,000 refugees who have inundated Bangladesh in recent weeks.

Despite winning the popular vote in an election two years ago, Myanmar’s constitution prohibits Suu Kyi from being president, as it bans anyone with foreign family members from holding the top spot, and Suu Kyi’s late husband was British.

In a defiant speech on September 19, Suu Kyi said her government "does not fear international scrutiny." She instead postured as if any violence against Rohingyas was the direct result of counter-insurgency campaigns to drive out militants.

Human Rights Watch has suggested an arms embargo on Myanmar to the UN’s Security Council, but as Denika Blacklock, a development and conflict analyst, wrote for Al Jazeera an arms embargo and other such sanctions “are only effective when the parties applying the sanctions, and their allies, work in cooperation.”

In a speech Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, also called Myanmar’s violence a “genocide.” "Those who close their eyes to this genocide perpetuated under the cover of democracy are its collaborators,” he said.

Turkey has offered Bangladesh financial assistance if the country will accommodate more Rohingya refugees, while the UN’s World Food Programme has distributed meals to thousands of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh’s prime minister Sheikh Hasina called for UN-established safe zones to be set up in the Rakhine State. "These people must be able to return to their homeland in safety, security and dignity," she told the UN General Assembly in a speech. On September 26, the government of Bangladesh announced that it would build shelters to support 6,000 children who have entered the country as refugees.